Press Release

Announcement of the Official Naming of the Next Generation Launch Vehicle

July 2, 2015 (JST)

National Research and Development AgencyJapan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is proud to announce the official naming of the Next Generation Launch Vehicle currently under development as follows. The name was decided in coordination with the prime contractor (Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.)
We will continue to develop the Next Generation Launch Vehicle in order to achieve flexible and diversified demands.

Name: H3 Launch Vehicle (Abbreviation: H3)

The major reasons for the selection are as follows:

The “H” stands for a successful heritage of our H-IIA/H-IIB Launch Vehicles.